This summer I was in Paris for a few days. I decided to take a short day trip to Giverny, which is only an hour or so away by train. Giverny is famous because it is where Claude Monet lived and painted many of his most known pieces.
Giverny is a small town with many B and B’s. It is also the home of the Museum of Impressionists.
The garden in front of Monet’s home is surrounded by a beautiful meadow.
This is the main basin with some water lilies Monet may have painted!
Next I traveled to the gardens.
The gardens were very important to Monet, who had many books on botany and hired several gardeners to help him plant precise designs and layouts. Monet waited 4 years, perfecting the landscape, before he painted his best known work of the water lilies at his new home.
I was beyond lucky that I got to visit on such a nice day. Walking around his garden and small town felt as though I had stepped back in time; and I can see why he was so inspired to create art around this French countryside.